Soft Sell Quality of Working Life Programs and the Productivity Race Resource Type: Book Published: 1987 Quality of Working Life is a grab-bag of programs that promise workplace improvements and greater job satisfaction in exchange for increased productivity on the part of Canadian workers. But, says Don Wells, the promise of a new way to satisfy workers' needs has been proven false. Wells shows that QWL programs can present a direct, though carefully hidden, threat to the union movement.